The Unschooling Debate

Those who have chosen the path of homeschooling have a pile of many choices and decisions ahead of them. One of the methods for consideration is that of unschooling. But before we go into the pros and cons of unschooling, what does unschooling actually mean?

Unschooling is the only true free education and it is a belief system rather than a method. It is primarily about process not content nor is it method of instruction, it’s a different way at looking at learning. Unschooling is following in the child’s lead, allowing them to learn from a wide variety of experiences and resources. Unschooling is like the open classroom research and theories. If kids are given the right learning environment, they will learn. The term Unschooling does not mean kids will not learn, it means learning without the trappings of teachers, faculty, and environment of school.

Trying to get the essence of unschooling is like trying to get the essence of life. For most, unschooling is life. Our lives are on a balance of needs and understandings, and learning is a part of all of it, not separate from it. There are many, many things that kids will certainly open doors to. An unschooling moment would be that learning is learning whether or not it’s planned, recorded, or on the menu.

The term unschooling was created by John C. Holt, known as the father of the modern homeschooling movement. It is a form of learning that the child teaches to him/herself rather than the teacher or parent doing it. Unschooling is also known as, natural learning, experience based learning, or independent learning.

From what I’ve read online about “unschooling,” is that kids are expressing their own ways of being taught taking one small step through life. I think it’s great for what these kids are doing, they’re learning about the world around them by actually doing hands on activities and actually going places that (they) want to learn in an atmosphere of freedom and prosperity.

Phillip Zeller is currently a high school junior.

111 responses to “The Unschooling Debate”

  1. Phil – I am very impressed by the insight you provide in this piece on unschooling! Thanks for sharing, pal. Dr. McDonald

  2. ncooke@ehs1.org says:

    Phill, as the father of two unschooled daughters I have to congratulate you for being right on target in your description of what unschooling is and how it works. “Unschooling is following in the child’s lead, allowing them to learn from a wide variety of experiences and resources…If kids are given the right learning environment, they will learn.” Absolutely. I can testify that it really works. Granted, we had a house full of books, and both our girls were voracious readers. But what was amazing to see was how they moved from one subject to another, pretty much on their own–doing a few math games, then reading a couple chapters of an historical novel, then drawing for awhile, then doing some kind of physical activity outside, then reading about an insect they found in one of our insect guides… OK, they did sometimes have a little guidance from their mom–mostly just suggestions of things to do, with the appropriate materials provided or pointed out–but not always. Sometimes they’d want Daphne to be right there as they worked on something, just watching–not doing anything of her own, you understand!–and she was not to make a single comment or ask a single question–they just wanted her THERE. Of course, we were lucky in that Daphne could be a stay-at-home mom. And I definitely wouldn’t recommend unschooling to anyone–something that important is going to be an individual family’s decision–though I might tell people about it, the way I am right now! We’re really, really glad we went this way with our kids’ early education (they both started school around 9th grade, as by that point they wanted to do more activities with larger peer groups than our homeschoolers’ group), and they have thanked us several times since for their unschooled self-education.

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